Promoter Herb Simmons started the show by acknowledging the recent passings of Gypsy Joe and Muhammad Ali. Gypsy Joe was a bit before my time, but he had in-ring wars in his later years against such opponents as New Jack and Necro Butcher. Quite a few of the wilder rasslin stories in history involve the name of Gypsy Joe, to say the least. Herb also noted that it was the birthday of the late Bruiser Brody, segueing into the ten-bell salute.

“Your Canadian Hero” Sean Vincent vs. Britton Tucker: Tucker is not well-liked in East Carondelet; one female fan was particularly irate about Tucker’s mere presence and Tucker promised to take her out to Olive Garden after the show. Bwahahaha.

They had a solid opener and Vincent appeared to be on the verge of winning with his Mapleleaf Leglock, but “Unstable” Dave Vaughn entered the ring and blatantly attacked TUCKER…thus getting Vincent disqualified in 7:44. Har har. Afterwards, Vincent reaffirmed that Vaughn would not turn him back into a “villain” as he insisted he would.

“The Fury” Jason Vaughn vs. “The Incredible” Matt Kenway (Look At Him): We have two guys in SICW with the last name of Vaughn…cue the MARKET CONFUSION~! Kenway was substituting for Ax Allwardt(Vaughn’s scheduled opponent).

Vaughn’s two young children were in attendance and were VERY vocal in their support of their father. Kenway did a good job in the rulebreaking role and targeted Vaughn’s arm, but Vaughn made El Big Comeback and got the figure-four leglock out of nowhere for the submission in 6:08.

Bobby D vs. “Unstable” Dave Vaughn: Vaughn’s transition into Heath Ledger Joker continues with the similar hair and the eye makeup. Vaughn controlled most of the matchup, but had trouble putting D away and went for a chair.

That brought out Vincent to confiscate the weapon, leading to Bobby D getting the rollup pin on a distracted Vaughn in 5:14. Vaughn didn’t seem too upset about the loss, laughing about how Vincent’s interference proved that he truly was reverting to his old ways…more on this as it develops.

Flaming Freddie Fury vs. Purple Passion: WHEN EFFEMINATE MASKED WRESTLERS COLLIDE~! The fans in attendance had no idea what to make of this encounter, though I heard several people call out “This isn’t wrestling!”

The two ended up falling into 69 position on the ring apron and both were counted out in 5:43. The two literally left arm-in-arm.

“Dead Sexy” Daniel Gunner vs. Brandon Espinosa(w/ Travis Cook): . Travis started out by loudly complaining about the previous match, asking if Vince Russo had booked it. Espinosa followed suit, continuing his mindset that he’s above everyone else in the promotion by insulting several members of the locker room…that included his scheduled opponent for the evening.

This was a solid matchup with Gunner doing better than I would have expected. At any rate, Espy got the cross-armbreaker out of nowhere for the tapout in 7:18.

Big Jim Hoffarth vs. Bubba Troll(w/ Big Daddy): Hoffarth won last month’s Bruiser Brody Memorial Battle Royal and Troll was the last man eliminated, so Troll obviously wanted some payback in this battle of super heavyweights. I jokingly throw around “#ClubbingForearms” at times like this, but it’s not like we’re gonna see a lucha-style match out of these guys. I’m often told that casual fans would rather see a “fight” than a “wrestling match”, at any rate.

In a slight surprise, Troll got the win after a splash off the second rope in 8:30…Drew tried to get a word with Hoffarth afterwards, but he wasn’t feeling up to an interview after BEING SPLASHED FROM THE SECOND ROPE BY A LARGE OPPONENT. Timing, Drew.

“Night Train/Gorgeous/Great One” Gary Jackson & “Ironman” Ken Kasa vs. “The Icon” Chris Hargas(w/ Travis Cook), “St. Louis Handicap Match”: Hargas & Espinosa defeated Kasa in this style of match in May, so Hargas wanted to prove that he could do what Kasa couldn’t. The match had a fifteen-minute limit and the tag team would win if the single wrestler couldn’t win a decision in that time frame. Kasa wanted to fight on his own and asked Gary to stay outside the ring…so the match was basically a singles bout with Gary doing his beset to thwart interference attempts by Travis Cook.

Travis was able to get involved enough that the referee was distracted after Kasa delivered the John Wu Dropkick…at that moment, Jackson chased Travis back to the dressing room area. Kasa locked on a version of the rear naked choke as the time limit ticked down, but Hargas didn’t tap out until RIGHT after the closing bell sounded at 15:00. Technically Jackson & Kasa won the match, but Kasa wanted a decisive victory…so the July show will feature a thirty-minute Ironman Match between Kasa and Hargas. Goodie.

Johnny Blade vs. “The Tokyo Monster” Kahagas(w/ Travis Cook): Blade returned to the St. Louis area fairly recently after previously being a regular for both SICW and the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance. Kahagas won with a pumphandle Michinoku Driver in 5:54.

Ron Powers vs. Attila Khan for the Classic Title, Travis Cook Banned From Ringside: The past two months of Wrestling Explosion have attempted to compare this rivalry to Bruiser Brody vs. Abdullah The Butcher, as Powers is a protege of the late Brody and Khan has a similar style to the “Madman From The Sudan”. This wasn’t a technical classic and wasn’t expected to be…Khan played that popular Memphis game of “Where Oh Where Could The Foreign Object Be?” Hey, it ticks off the fans and that’s what counts for a rulebreaker. Ron had control when the rulebreakers’ locker room essentially emptied on Khan’s behalf to cause the DQ in 3:53. It started with Bubba Troll, then continued with Brandon Espinosa, Chris Hargas, and Kahagas with Big Daddy attempting to direct traffic.

It took a while for the fan favorites’ locker room to get the memo, but finally Ken Kasa and Gary Jackson hit the ring to help. Once they brought chairs into the fray, the rulebreakers backed off…that wrapped up the show.

“Memories Of Elvis” star Steve Davis sang the National Anthem; after that, they had a ten-bell salute to Blackjack Mulligan and Balls Mahoney (R.I.P.).

Bobby D vs. Attila Khan(w/ Travis Cook): Travis gave a grand reintroduction to Khan, who hadn’t been seen in SICW since his cage match loss to Gary Jackson in December. Other than a brief flurry of offense by D (somersault plancha included), Khan dominated most of this opening bout. Khan pulled him up from a pin attempt after the inverted DDT, then hit the finisher a second time for the easy win in 3:02.

The dynamic duo of Terry Funk and Larry Matysik did a random draw to determine the first-round matches in the Funk Title Tournament; the winner would be guaranteed a shot at the Classic Wrestling Championship. The draw produced several interesting bouts.

Ron Powers vs. Big Jim Hoffarth, Terry Funk Title Tournament Quarterfinal: I didn’t expect a lot of technical wizardry in this one, but the two heavyweights did start the match with an exchange of holds. Of course, it quickly turned into a slugfest that culminated in two straight instances of simultaneous clotheslines. The power game was the deciding factor as Ron delivered a huge released German suplex for the win in 4:17; the two shook hands after the match. Given the tournament field, Powers seemed like the clear favorite to emerge victorious…but a few new wrinkles would surface in the big picture.

“Unstable” Dave Vaughn vs. Ax Allwardt(w/ Big Daddy), Terry Funk Title Tournament Quarterfinal: Big Daddy managed both men, so he entered on his own after both wrestlers made their way to the ring. Vaughn returned to wrestling as a member of Big Daddy’s new stable as the veteran manager returned to his rulebreaking ways; the group also includes Bubba Troll, who was absent on this night. Vaughn had said that Big Daddy got him out of an insane asylum; he had “SANE” written on his wrist tape, though his demeanor would indicate otherwise. Vaughn had only recently returned to action after a layoff of several years, so it may take some time for him to get back into prime ring shape. With a matchup of two rulebreakers, the fans weren’t too invested in the bout; Vaughn seemed to be the lesser of two evils in this case. Big Daddy loudly proclaimed that he didn’t care who won as he got the winner’s share of the purse money in either case; however, he distracted the referee after Vaughn hit his signature spear. That distraction enabled Ax to hit Vaughn with his chain behind the referee’s back, scoring the tainted win in 5:54. On the heels of Vaughn and Ax’s tag team loss in March and this outcome, Big Daddy fired Vaughn from his stable…but a YouTube video showed Vaughn attacking Sean Vincent later in the night, so that feud will continue. At any rate, Ax was set to face Ron Powers in the semifinals.

“The Fury” Jason Vaughn & “Dead Sexy” Daniel Gunner vs. Britton Tucker & Waco: In the tradition of Wrestling At The Chase, this tag match had two referees; Earl Hebner was the main referee and Jay King was on the floor. Vaughn and Tucker are newcomers to SICW; I first heard of Tucker from his days in World League Wrestling. Vaughn(market confusion~!) recently started with the promotion and I don’t know much about him. I would have expected the official’s roles to be reversed, but it was Hebner who was knocked down during the match’s closing moments. Vaughn small-packaged Tucker and Jay King entered the ring to count the fall in 8:40.

“Ironman” Ken Kasa vs. “The Icon” Chris Hargas(w/ Travis Cook), Terry Funk Title Tournament Quarterfinal: Kasa was booted from the Travis Cook Organization and it was his old friend Hargas who dished out the beating to accentuate that executive action. Kasa was looking for payback, but Hargas attacked him from behind as he was entering the ringside area. Hargas hit him across the back with a chair for the fun of it…and this happened before the opening bell, so it put Kasa at a several disadvantage. Kasa fought back and nearly won with a rear naked choke, but Travis reached through the ropes to rake Kasa’s eyes out of the referee’s line of sight. The fight repeatedly spilled out of the ring, finally resulting in a double countout in 7:12.

Promoter Herb Simmons interviewed the special guests for the evening: Terry Funk and Director Of Affairs Cowboy Bob Orton. Classic Champion Flash Flanagan entered the ring with some harsh words for the legends and said he had PLANNED to make a name for himself at their expense…but circumstances dictated otherwise as he has a torn rotator cuff. Flash admitted that he’s not cleared to compete and had to surrender the championship…he seemed to be in the process of a turn to fan favoritism in recent months, mostly through common enemies with the other “good guys” on the roster. Simmons, Funk, and Orton mutually agreed that the winner of the night’s tournament would earn the vacant championship…it seemed like the tourney winner would be next in line for the belt anyway.

“Your Canadian Hero” Sean Vincent vs. “The Tokyo Monster” Kahagas(w/ Travis Cook), Terry Funk Title Tournament Quarterfinal: The winner of this match would get a bye to the finals due to the Kasa-Hargas double countout. Travis was on fire with his pre-match promo as Kahagas was his last horse in the race. While Vincent had a good run of momentum in the previous months, this seemed like a foregone conclusion as the former titleholder was driven to regain his gold. Kahagas got the win after a huge lariat in 6:22…and Vincent’s night got worse as he was attacked by Vaughn outside the building (as noted earlier).

Ron Powers vs. Ax Allwardt (w/ Big Daddy), Terry Funk Title Tournament Semifinal: Big Daddy’s distraction backfired this time as Powers gave Ax a taste of his own chain, notching the victory in 5:07 to go to the finals.

“Night Train/Gorgeous/Great One” Gary Jackson vs. “Volatile” Curtis Wylde(w/ Wyldefyre): This stemmed from Wylde wanting to rebound from his cage match loss to Sean Vincent in December, making a statement by attacking Jackson after his own cage match with Attila Khan. They caused each other’s eliminations in a six-man tag, then Wylde got suspended for attacking a referee during a singles bout between the two. Wylde bought a ticket to the March show and attacked Jackson AGAIN…Herb Simmons wanted to fire him outright, but Gary convinced him to let them settle things in the ring.

Wyldefyre put herself between Wylde and Jackson at the opening bell and was a constant nuisance for Gary…Wylde repeatedly used her as a human shield whenever Gary gave chase. The end came when Wyldefyre interjected herself AGAIN as Jackson was preparing to finish off her man. Gary avoided her slap attempt and picked her up to throw at Curtis Wylde, causing her to deliver an unintentional rana on Wylde! However, the referee made the unusual decision to call for the bell, disqualifying Jackson in 9:12 for using Wyldefyre as a weapon. The Wyldes celebrated their ill-begotten win while Gary confronted the referee over his thought process…that brought Herb Simmons into the situation.

Gary wanted one more shot at Wylde and Herb made it so for the May 21st show…with Wyldefyre locked in a cage to keep her out of things!

Ron Powers vs. “The Tokyo Monster” Kahagas(w/ Travis Cook), Terry Funk Title Tournament Final: The tournament was originally to determine the next challenger to Flash Flanagan’s Classic Wrestling Championship, but Flanagan’s injury and forfeiture meant that the tournament winner would become the new titleholder.

It didn’t take long for this battle of heavy hitters to get out of hand…the two brawled out of the ring and all the way around the Community Center, whacking each other with chairs and other furniture. The referee allowed a lot of leeway with the stakes involved in the matchup, so they eventually made it back to the ring as the match continued. Seemingly out of nowhere, Powers hit the RKO for the win in 6:05 to become the NEWWWWW SICW Classic Wrestling Champion!

After the match, Flash Flanagan entered the ring…tension ensued, but he graciously handed the title belt over to Powers and then beat down Travis Cook with his kendo stick. That brought out the rest of Cook’s troops(Attila Khan and Chris Hargas), but Terry Funk and Cowboy Bob Orton hit the ring to help Powers fight them off! Once the dust settled, Herb proposed that Flash give the belt to the tournament’s namesake Funk; Funk then presented it properly to the new champion Ron Powers to close the show!

The fall months of November were red hot as the best in the Midwest battled it out in cages, survivor series matches, and Iron Man matches and much more. We got to see wrestling superstars such as Ricky Morton, Davey Richards, D.J. Shiima Xion, and Colt Cabana in action and new champions.

Once again Missouri Wrestling Revival continued their tradition as being the home for fans to find out about this must attend events. Let us take a look at just a small sample of the great matches that you should of have seen live.

MWR has seen some of the wildest wrestlers in the sport make an impact with their brutal wrestling style that has left their opponents bloody and beaten. From the deranged Derek Stone to the methodical madness of Ron Powers to the man that has been a promoters nightmare in the monster Attila Khan.

Yet, what we have seen in the recent months from one of the Midwest top scientific style wrestlers, Steve Fender has been quite disturbing. As one half of the World League Wrestling Tag Team Champions with partner Derek McQuinn, otherwise known as Elite Aggression, the two have used every trick in the book to maintain control of the championship as they have remained one step ahead of the Black Hand Warriors and the rest of the young stars of WLW.

Steve Fender, Lucy Mendez and Travis Cook.

Wade Chism lays the law down.

We witness Steve Fender take his actions to an all-time low at New Breed Wrestling in Eldon, Missouri in October when he destroyed a TV that was donated from the NBW sponsor Rent-A-Center that was going to be raffled to support Multiple Sclerosis, prior to his match against his former friend Trevor Murdoch.

Steve Fender is proud of his actions.

Scotty Zei is furious and had to be held back.

Fender explained why he turned on Murdoch at the last event by saying that he did it just because he didn’t like him. In fact he only teamed with Murdoch, so he could get close enough to ambush him.

New Breed Wrestling commissioner Wade Chism made an impact when he scheduled an impromptu inter-gender match between Fender and Lucy Mendez against Murdoch and Miss Natural. Murdoch and Natural took home the win on the night, but if history has shown anything in the past from Fender, it is only going to get a little more wild at WLW and NBW.

Travis Cook and his hired hit man Cousin Gator looked to end Ricky Cruz’s MWR MO Title reign before it got started in front of a red hot New Breed Wrestling crowd.

The King of Chaos” Ricky Cruz is a marked man ever since he became MWR’s first Missouri Heavyweight Champion in Fenton. Cruz’s first title defense was to be against the dangerous Attila Khan in Eldon for the upstart New Breed Wrestling. However, Khan was suspended for a recent brutal attack on Gary Jackson (outside of NBW).

Travis Cook, Khan’s manager, took great pride in finding a replacement: the powerful Cousin Gator of Guns and Beer. This year, Cousin Gator had impressed Cook by defeating Brandon Aarons and The Iceman (Iceman is consistently ranked in our Top 10).

Cook not only knew Cruz’s strengths and flaws, but he enlisted another arch rival to help Gator win the belt and that was none other than the MWR Sexiest Female & Female Wrestler of the Year, Lucy Mendez.

Cook and Mendez stacked the deck against the champ with referee distractions and subsequent interference. Cruz showed the heart of a champion as he withstood it long enough to find an opening to land a superkick to put Cousin Gator down for the three count.

The MWR MO Champion Ricky Cruz celebrates with the fans after a hard fought victory.

The tumultuous history between Ron Powers and Ricky Cruz has taken several interesting turns…and it took another turn last month in Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling.

Their story started years before they ever crossed paths in the East Carondelet Community Center. Each man has his own perspective on the situation: Ricky said that Ron deliberately injured his brother in a match in Puerto Rico, ending their dream of competing as a tag team. Ron said that he was a different person at the time and had changed since that era of his wrestling career.

The tension boiled over when Powers dished out a bloody beating to Cruz in the middle of the ring…that kicked off a wild series of matches with the SICW Classic Wrestling Championship at stake. In the end, Cruz walked away with the gold…but Powers never forgot who put that blemish on his record.

The two fought other competitors but their paths seemed to keep crossing at different points. When “Ironman” Ken Kasa cashed in on a promised title shot to steal the title from Cruz, it was Powers’ post-match beating that set the table for Kasa’s actions.

Over time, Powers’ focus changed and the fans started to get behind the veteran’s no-nonsense attitude. That may have touched a nerve with Ricky Cruz…while they may have been on the same side at times, Ricky never forgot about what Powers had done to him in the past. That led Cruz to a spot as guest referee in a grudge match between Powers and Flash Flanagan…Ricky had no love lost for either man, but his more recent issue was with Flanagan.

It seemed like Cruz would call the match right down the middle, but he turned on Powers with a superkick out of nowhere to give Flash the victory. The longtime fan favorite was suddenly hearing boos…he insisted that he hadn’t changed, but the fans’ support of Powers had altered his perception of them. The feud was reignited with the popularity roles reversed, leading to some interesting alliances on either side.

The most interesting alliance was between Ricky Cruz and Travis Cook’s Organization. Despite the fact that it was Cook’s manipulations that led to the end of Ricky’s title reign, Ricky felt they had a common enemy and formed a tenuous partnership with Travis and company. The rival clashed in a loser-leaves-town match and it was the interference of the Travis Cook Organization and Flash Flanagan that led to Powers’ unceremonious exit from SICW.

A few months later, manager Big Daddy brought in a masked newcomer named “Red River Jack”. The powerhouse racked up several impressive victories, but Ricky Cruz and Travis Cook suspected that RRJ wasn’t what he seemed. King Kong Brody had once competed under a hood with the Red River Jack name…and Ron Powers was once a protege of Brody. Cruz and Cook connected the dots and speculated that RRJ was actually Powers.

The war continued with Cruz siding with Cook’s stable against their common enemies…but Travis had made one too many enemies and it all came to a head in December. RRJ’s mask was on the line in a match with Ricky Cruz…and recent Cook rival Jim Cornette was the special guest referee.

On top of that, Jake Dirden was the ringside enforcer to ward off the interference of Cook’s Organization. Promoter Herb Simmons had ruled that if Ron Powers had violated the stipulation of the loser-leaves-town match by competing under the hood, he would be banned from SICW for life.

Jake Dirden with Jim Cornette’s personal weapon of choice.

Chaos ensued as Ken Kasa and Flash Flanagan both got involved in the matchup…Cornette and Cook came to blows and Red River Jack got the win after whacking Cruz with Cornette’s trademark tennis racket. RRJ had retained his mask and Ron Powers made his official return to SICW at the start of 2015…but Travis Cook’s Organization was still intent on proving their point.

In the process, cracks started to form in the alliance between Cook and Ricky Cruz…Cook vowed that Kasa would be champion again, something that didn’t sit well with Ricky. That may have reminded Ricky about the circumstances that led to the end of his own title reign.

During a tag match pitting Cruz and Kasa against Gary Jackson and Jim Hoffarth, Travis Cook tried to interfere but accidentally threw powder in Cruz’s eyes. Once Ricky recovered from the temporary impairment of his vision, he confronted Cook about his actions and then walked away from the match, leaving Kasa to lose in a two-on-one situation. Despite that turn of events, Travis Cook insisted that everything was fine in the Cruz/Cook alliance…and that led to the events of February 21st.

The main event between Red River Jack and Attila Khan turned into all-out pandemonium as Travis Cook’s Organization gang-attacked RRJ. Ken Kasa and new recruit Chris Hargas helped Khan triple-team the masked man while Big Daddy was handcuffed to the ringpost and unable to help. They restrained Jack while Travis called Ricky Cruz to the ring for the honor of removing the mask.

Ricky nearly got the hood off RRJ’s head…but then turned around and attacked the members of Travis Cook’s Organization! At the end of the night, Red River Jack’s identity remained unrevealed and Ricky Cruz stood tall, once again hearing the cheers of the fans…

In the wake of last month’s event, Ricky told promoter Herb Simmons that he had let his issues with Ron Powers/Red River Jack cloud his judgment and led him to associate with the wrong people…he had experienced several changes in his life that had changed his perspective on a lot of things. Despite all of that, it remains to be seen whether he will be able to coexist with his old rival…he is scheduled to team with RRJ and Daniel Eads against the Travis Cook Organization at the next show. One thing is for sure: The story between Ricky Cruz and Ron Powers is far from finished.

SICW– In the Wrestling business there is no rest, SICW is always looking to bring the best to their fans, and just tonight an arrangement was made with another “Beast of a man” from Mongolia, “Attila Khan”, I cant tell you what to expect out of this individual, it’s been said he is a person that is hard to control. This Saturday is shaping up to a night of SURPRISES! Plan to join us at the East Carondelet Community center at 8pm for the best in the business, SICW brings you the past, current and future stars of the wrestling business. Call 618-286-4848 as operators are standing by to reserve your seat.